Girls Rule.

This election, a record number of women—binders and binders full of them—ran for office, and…best of all…won.

In the new Congress, we will have 20 female Senators, up from 17. We will have the first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin, in Wisconsin. We will have the first Asian-American woman in the Senate, Mazie Hirono, and the first Hindu in Congress, Tulsi Gabbard. Last I checked, 81 women had been elected to the House, while a few races were still being counted. New Hampshire will have the nation’s first all-female delegation. (Feel free to express your gratitude with a donation to EMILY’s List.)

This election wasn’t just a win for women, and it wasn’t just a win for the men who love them, it might also be a win for government.

What does this all mean?

As you know, there was a lot of talk this election, particularly from Republicans, about how government should be run more like a business. Well, guess what? Having more women in leadership roles is a key sign of a company’s health. And more women in Congress may be a sign that government is growing healthier.

Here are the facts:

Companies with more women in leadership roles improve their bottom line

That’s right. The research shows that again and again that companies that consistently promote women outperform their competitors. They do better on the stock exchange, and they make higher profits.

From a 2007 Catalyst study: [1]

Fortune 500 companies with 3 or more women on the Board outperform those with the fewest by

+ 42% return on sales

+ 53% return on equity

+ 66% return on invested capital

From a 2007 McKinsey study: [2]

Companies with more women in top management outperform the industry average in return on by 48% in operating results.

After several years of tracking the performance of Fortune 500 companies, researchers found “The correlation between high-level female executives and business success has been consistent and revealing.”

There are many possible reasons for this correlation between more women and healthier companies. It could be that we’re better listeners, we have a unique ability to form relationships, or the fact that we tend to be more risk-averse than men in our decision-making. Or according to a study published in Harvard Business Review this year, we’re simply better leaders. Or maybe, as Nancy Pelosi pointed out in an interview yesterday morning, the years some of us spend raising children actually give us important diplomacy and interpersonal skills.

How do these skills translate to government?

Anyone who has worked in business knows that to get anything done, you need to bring people along with you. These relationships are what make women effective in business, and could make us doubly effective in government, where nothing gets done without a consensus.

In the words of our first female secretary of state, Madeline Albright:

“I believe that societies are better off when women are politically and economically empowered…When you have more women, the tone of the conversation changes, and the goals of the conversation change.”

What do you think this election means for women? For everyone?

* * *

Got a few minutes? Watch this inspiring interview with Madeline Albright, where she talks about her first meeting at the UN as the only woman on the Security Council.

I’m thrilled for all the possibilities…., besides, it was particularly painful having to explain what “rape” meant and why it was a frequently used word in the election…, I just shudder at the thought of what might have been.

The sense of relief I had on behalf of my daughters when I saw how many women had been voted into office was palpable. I felt like we’d just spent an entire election cycle paddling back to the 1950s, but that the outcome showed that American voters are more than ready to change the status quo. Have you read The Good Girls Revolt by Lyn Povich yet, about the women of Newsweek who sued their employer for sex discrimination back in the ’60s. Great story and a reminder of the debt of thanks we owe to all those ladies who head towards the glass ceiling carrying a battering ram.

Saw an advance screening if Lincoln (by the way, a terrific film if you want to see a) great acting; and b) how relevant politics in that historical time & place is TODAY).
There is a scene in congress when they are arguing if blacks should have the right to be free [insert disapproving uproar], because “what’s next, the right for blacks to vote?” [bigger uproar]. “Then where does it stop, the right for *women* to vote?!?” [gigantic, deafening uproar].
Amazing to see that 150 years ago the concept of women having the right to vote was as egregious as bondage, in some people’s eyes.

This election was a big victory. But I want to look back in 50 years and say “why was gender even an issue?” Then again, in 50 years, I won’t be looking back, I’ll be looking up, from a grave. So lets’ use that battering ram to break the glass ceiling while we are still alive!!!

My hope for 2013 is that these facts about women in leadership roles being good for business start to reach the ears of more business executives! In the field I work in (the arts), it’s still a daily struggle “on the ground” for women, especially for working mothers. I’m thrilled that “binders full of women” won in this election, and I hope that we start to see legislative changes that move the United States away from its position of having one of the most family-hostile public policies in the developed world.